Nutty Racism

The other day at work, during the normal conversational pauses, I learned something that I found truly shocking.

It seems that most of the country refers to Brazil nuts as "Nigger Toes". I was shocked as person after person casually said, "yeah, that's what they're called."

My boss was at a loss when asked if he knew another name for a Brazil nut. He didn't know what a Brazil nut was and finally asked, "Do you mean Nigger Toes?"

Everyone seemed to know this, other than myself. From Colorado, to Texas, to Minnesota, to Illinois to California the answers were the same and casually stated. In fairness, I don't think many of my co-workers actually use this term. Most attributed it to what was said in their home growing up.

Finally our sales V.P. who hails from Pennsylvania had the same reaction as I did. We agreed that if we ever even said that in our own home our mothers would have slapped us so fast we wouldn't have had time to duck.

How many of you are familiar with this term and how many heard it used in your home growing up?

Comments

[angry black man altanta]

Nigger toes is so racist!

[Noname Jane]

I live in Washington State, and I was just discussing with my bf what the real name for nigger toes is. I had to look it up. My whole family calls brazil nuts "nigger toes" and so did his family. My dad was from North Carolina, my mom from Montana.

[KOLA]

My father called them Niggertoes to make me giggle, but made sure that I knew their correct name as well. I mean looking at the nuts though, that name is pretty funny!

[Graymalkin]

My parents hailed from Virginia, and I grew up in Maryland. As a kid, I never heard of them referred to as anything but "niggertoes." I didn't discover they were "brazil nuts" until my early teens. Just as I never heard "soup beans" called "pinto beans" growing up.
I remember as a young child we visited relatives in Virginia, and stopped at a small grocery store with hand-printed signs over the goods. Yes, there, in the bin filled with hard, curved brown nuts was a sign that read "Nigger Toes 50 cents/pound".
I always assumed it was a "Southern thang" until discovering it was a common term in other - generally rural - areas of the US.

[Allen l.]

I have been calling them Nigger Toes all my life I'm 47. I didn't know what a nigger was until I was a teen

[Crystal]

I am from WA State and just this evening my 11 year old son asked me what “this one is called” yes indeed he knew all the others names, in the nut bowl but hadn’t heard anyone comment on the ones that in my opinion are the best. So, yeah I was like hmm what is the proper name?? unfortunately, I didn’t know. My Dad and Grandpa always referred to them as nigger toes, and with a smirk at that because they knew they were saying something bad. I explained that it would be very offensive to an African American if asked the same question …hey, what’s this one called? Well now I know they are “Brazilian nuts” I hate this world we live in at times….I cant believe that people would just teach that racism to there children I wouldn’t even tell my boys what they were called by some people in past generations but am proud to say that it HAS changed with me and my children.

[LB Sanchez]

I'm from So. Cal and never actually knew what a "Brazil Nut" was. They were always referred to by everyone I know as "Nigger Toes." I think as a child we never realized that it was racist and didn't really think about it until I asked my husband if he cared for one. He was appalled that I would say such a thing. Seriously, never knowing the true name of the nut, made me very aware of what I had been saying my entire life.

[Frank Froese]

First of all... Fresh Dizzy-izzle should do the world a favor and put a 12 gauge slug through his Nazi skull.
Secondly, yes... In Northeast PA where I grew up, that is the term for Brazil Nuts.
In fact, in my area, the little black liquorice gummy bears were always referred to by my grandma as Nigger Babies.

[Darron]

My brother mentioned this to me. My mother told him a brown, triangular nuts were sold with the label 'Nigger Toes'. I googled and found this blog. I wouldn't be suprised if the company that did it is still in business.

[Melanie]

If a tree falls in brazil and a squirrel grabs his nuts and runs. What shape, size and type are the squirrels nuts?

[Melanie]

The Answer, (to the above) depends on if anyone is there to hear the squirrel scream when the tree hits the ground. If Yes, the size and shape are the same as two quarters. And the Type is Crushed.

[Bill]

I'm in the same boat as you. I didn't hear the term until my grandmother jokingly mentioned the name about a year ago. The thing I am amazed at is I had gone 28 years without knowing such a popular term.

[Toni]

I think you guys have went to the extreme with the term, yes there are racist bigots every where you go. I grew up in Illinois and my family is from Tennesse, and that's all we called Brazil Nuts when I was growing up. The term never offended me, but ignorance does, I have many friends from many different nationalities,,,, and in essence Love makes the world go round,,,,LOL,,,it's healing for the Soul,,,,,p.s. could anyone tell me and my friends what wob is? hey Spille what is wOb?

[Bob Poonystank]

Nigger Toes are the actual name of the nut. "Brazil Nut" is actually an insulting term thought up by some liberal a**hole that thought he could just change the name of something just because he thought it was offensive. Nigger Toes are not even found in Brazil - they naturally grow in Peru & Bolivia. People started getting offended by the term Nigger Toes in the late 1950's, and started calling them "Brazil Nuts", because they were ignorant and thought that Brazil was where the nuts originated from, or just were too stupid to know the difference between Brazil and other South American countries. In any case, just thought you should know - if you don't like the name of the nuts, don't eat them - don't try to change the name just because you don't like it.

[Val]

well, i jus heard about the term today, less than an hour ago. My mom and i were sharing a bag of bridge mix, and i got up to walk away and i heard her say something that sounded like the word "nigger" to me. I turned round and asked her what she said and she said "this is a nigger toe" and i was completely shocked! i had never heard the term, nor does my mom say nigger very often! i think this could possibly be the first time i have actually heard it come out of her mouth! she explained its what a brazil nut has always been refered to around her as she grew up (she is 61 now and has mostly lived in kansas most of her life) i had to research this topic and thats when i stumbled across this site. i still cant believe it and dont really think i will be using that term anytime soon. if i worry i could be shot saying it around wichita, i hate to think of what would happen in bigger towns!

[Clippa]

From the south here. We always called them nigger toes. Now, my grandmother who was very southern. There's a difference between southern and country. She always said nigra with a very heavy southern drawl. "Pa yus me them nigra toes".

[Zen]

Yay its still alive! Long live the brazil nuts thread.

[Cynthia]

Like someone said above, I just found this site doing a google search because my 9 year old daughter just asked me what they're called and I couldn't tell her what my family always called them growing up (family from NC). My husband from RI, raised in FL had never heard the term till I just told him I didn't know what to tell our daughter...I'm just glad she asked me and not my dad! I'd heard of Brazil nuts but never realized those are Brazil nuts...I'm so glad I know now and have an answer for her.

[Carrie]

Yes, that was what I thought their name was all of my life. It is how my entire family refers to them. I grew up with parents -especially my father, who used the word often, and not just in reference to dark colored nuts. As a young adult (around 16), I knew in my own heart, soul, and Conscience, that the "N WORD", was one of the nastiest words in the English language, and chose not to use it, as it was wrong. I still can never remember the proper name of the nut though, and will sometimes refer to it as the one people call a bad name (without saying the word). It was used by so many (and still is) in and around my life, I found it strange others had never heard of it (but that is a GOOD thing)!

[FabulouslySpicy]

I would like to start this off by saying that I'm black. With that said, I asked my dad just a few months ago about wht type of nuts it was that I used to like to eat at my grandfathers. According to him I like Walnuts and Nigga Toes. When I said "Nigga toes?" questioningly he said thats what people call them but they are Brazil nuts. So I guess thats just what people refer to them as. For people who grew up when racism was widespread and in the open, it seems to be no big deal. My father and I grew up in Cleveland. But his mother is from Mississippi.

[April]

I agree with you! A few months ago I was eating mixed nuts while watching tv and my husband came in and asked me if I would hand him some 'nigger toes'. After he saw the look on my face he explained what they were, and he also grew up calling them that..he had no idea that they were actually brazil nuts! I later asked my mother if she had ever heard it, she too was raised calling them that but said she did not want myself or my sister speaking like that. It still shocks me that in this day in time all the racial references people think it is acceptable to use!

[Mechrobioticon]

I personally think it's a more vivid name for 'em.

Why use a geographic designator when you could use a culturally-laden metaphor? I think it's fun, racist semantics be damned.

[mike]

Heard the term applied to Brazil Nuts as well as the sunflower known as a blackeyed susan. The term Nword shooter was universal in central texas for those of us who grew up in the 1950s and before. My home town even had an Nword shooter ordinance until the late 1960s that read something like " It shall be unlawful to discharge a catapult, or slung shot otherwise known as a "nword shooter" in the city limits of ___."
Our youthful understanding of the term was the rubberband/pouch mounted in a y shaped stock intended, perhaps jokingly, for shooting african american persons. My father was emphatic that I was not to use mine to shoot any "colored" people. Other definitions implied that the instrument was a weapon of choice for african american people and still another was that it was used by overseers to urge fieldhands toward greater productivity.
The first time, I heard the polite term for the instrument was from some middle class and proper emigrants from Mississippi. These people insisted that the proper term was "sling shot" and we knew that was a lily-livered euphanism because David did not have vulcanized rubberbands when he slew Goliath. Nevertheless we knew it was cruel to call african american people Nwords the acceptable terminology being "colored person," or "Negro." These Nwordisms are far less commonly used now as those of us who are non-african descended have been absorbed by the civil rights movement, realized that people with african ancestry are (faint praise) as good as we are with some even being smarter and making more money.

[mixlplix]

To Barryheet wearin-
"I dont totally believe in free speech." = You are worse than ANY racist! You F'ing Nazi.
"And we give them something that they will never forget." Yeah like a fatherless child or HPV.

[Dastier121]

Yep...googled nigger toes so here I am. I grew up calling Brazil nuts nigger toes. That's what my grandmother called them. Because of this blog I was moved to ask some of my black co workers what they know this nut as. (Just happened to buy a pack of 'em yesterday) They didn't miss a beat when they answered "nigger toes." Seems to me that it's just a descriptive name for a nut and nothing more. The issue of racism comes from thin skinned individuals just looking for something to find outrage in.
For the record, I freely admit to despising the trend of "political correctness." How much more productive could we be if we didn't have to waste so much time filtering our conversations to make sure that we don't offend anyone with an innocent comment?
I remember talking with an elderly black lady who shared the hospital room with my grandmother. She told me that she was a negro and that a nigger was a "ditch digger", aka unskilled/uneducated worker. Taken in that context, it would appear that nigger isn't the derogatory word that we have been conditioned to believe it to be.

[Satondra Mcaulay]

OMG this is so funny to me all my life growing up i thought that was what they where really called... they are my fav nut though

[Alviedo]

I remember these brown and craggy nuts referred to as nigger toes when I grew up. My mother would buy an assortment of nuts: chestnuts, almonds, walnuts and nigger toes. It didn't offend me but it rather disgusted me that anyone would want to eat something that resembled a hideous part of a negro's anatomy. I never liked nigger toes that were in the nut bowl. I always ate the other walnuts, almonds and chestnuts and used the nigger toes to throw around outdoors.

[D]

Nigger toes or Crackers they are all the same when eaten "FOOD FOR THOUGHT".